Mahama’s Vote-Buying Bombshell

Former President John Mahama is in a befuddled mood and that has been his lot since his ‘return to Jubilee House’ campaign took off in earnest.

He says things which present him as someone who is challenged in arranging his thoughts well and so ends up infecting his audience with his confusion. When he is told about the implication of such remarks, he would certainly explain otherwise. For a man thought to be a communications expert, these shortcomings are not commensurate with his expertise. There has been a somewhat degeneration.

The latest entry in the long list of his confusing remarks has to do with the funding of the NDC campaign which failed to yield him the presidency during the last polls.

It is a disclosure which sounds unique. It is unlike the other ones in the sense that he has inadvertently let out a fact about his party’s strategy – something the civil society organizations should be interested in.

One such organisation sought to punch holes in Freddie Blay’s bank loan raising project to purchase buses for constituencies to undertake transport business.

With a former President saying that his party lost the elections because monies meant to be distributed to the electorate were diverted by party operatives, we should be interested in interrogating this bombshell.

The implication of this is multifaceted. Firstly we can deduce from it as can others that the NDC dishes out monies for votes for the party. In other words, the party buys the conscience of the people.

We are now convinced that the allegations that in the rural areas especially, the party was used to having recipients of the election largesse swear by local deities that they perish should they, after collecting the monies and other items, fail to vote for the NDC.

From the foregone, we can say without fear of contradiction that vote-buying has been the stock-in-trade of the party over the years.

We are also tempted to believe that to generate the large cash outlay for such an election project, alternative and sleazy methods must be adopted.

Could that be the reason behind the NDC diverting monies meant for statutory payments and other genuine expenditures for the use of the party?

We wonder just how the party can explain this disclosure other than simply distancing the leadership from it as a face-saving strategy.

It would be worthwhile finding out details of the beneficiaries of the NDC election cash, sources and impact on government business. Was the distribution restricted to only voters? We are hard-pushed not to think that institutions which had something to do with elections, the leadership of these, enjoyed the largesse.

Former President John Mahama’s campaign trail is going to be interesting. Ghanaians ain’t seen anything yet!